It is often desirable to allow multiple users to coauthor a document file. However, not all software applications support coauthoring. Often, one version of a software application, typically a newer one, may permit coauthoring, and a legacy version of the software application may not. It is desirable to provide a degree of backward compatibility in a coauthoring system to ensure that newer software applications can share access to a document file, that legacy software applications can also access the document file, and that legacy applications do not inadvertently disrupt coauthoring data or the coauthoring process.